Antibalas Who Is This America?

With the Afrobeat awakening finally ringing loud and clear across dancefloors nationwide, Brooklyn's Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra returns to prove they're still the baddest on the block. Their characteristic, churning boombast descends immediately, with the slinky guitar and torrential horn storm of the title track and "Pay Back Africa"; it continues later as album closers "Elephant" and "Sister" stretch out darkly hypnotic rhythms into epic, Fela-esque lengths. The band's anti-establishment politics resound throughout, but perhaps loudest on "Indictment," a hilarious, funky People's Court send-up that reveals a newfound sense of humor layered over some of the band's most urgent playing.